


Unravel

by TheManicMagician



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Mostly just an excuse for them to cuddle, Rated T for Seam's potty mouth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 20:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16688398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheManicMagician/pseuds/TheManicMagician
Summary: Seam keeps falling apart, to Jevil’s increasing exasperation.





	Unravel

Seam poured out two cups of tea and set them on his desk. Jevil would be at his door any moment now, to go over their plans for next week. Little Prince Lancer’s birthday was fast approaching, and the royal scamp expected to not just be entertained, but dazzled by the joint performance of the court jester and magician. Seam picked up the scrap of parchment he’d been using to jot down his ideas. His best one so far was to have Jevil’s carousel creatures balance atop balls of his yarn. Was that too predictable? Had they done something similar before? His brows creased as he searched his memory.

Then, his button eye squeezed out of his scrunched socket. The connection to his magic fizzled, and then his world went dark.

“Shit.” Ears pricked, he heard the button roll off the table, and then onto the carpet, where the plush fabric unhelpfully quieted its movements.

Muttering more swears, Seam picked his way carefully around his desk. He crouched low, hands hunting around the floor. He’d felt his button eye (he used to have two, but the second fell off somewhere years ago) becoming loose the past couple days, but he’d ignored the sensation of his body unraveling. It happened more often now that he was older, and he was weary of the dull ache that accompanied stitching his body back together. He growled, annoyed, as his search of the area around the desk brought up nothing.

He went to stand, but without his sight, he misjudged his proximity to his desk and knocked his head against it. Seam heard tea slosh, and then he was wiping the hot liquid off his face. This was not his _day_.

“Oh my! What a chaotic scene I’ve entered.”

Of course, _now_ he showed up.

“Jevil.” He gestured helplessly to the room around him. “Do you see my eye anywhere?”

“Yes.”

“…Well?”

“Well what?” Jevil giggled impishly.

“Won’t you tell me where it is?”

“Oh, where’s the fun in that?” Jevil did take a small measure of pity on him, though, because he added, “You’re fairly frigid at the moment.”

Seam pushed off from the desk and cautiously stepped forward, hands warily in front of him.

“Getting warmer~” Jevil sing-songed.

“I hate you.” Seam grumped, but there was no real heat in it. This was just another in their never-ending series of games.

He was beside the couch now. Seam let his hand slide along the cushions as he inched past it, really not looking to bang his knees on its wooden legs.

Jevil called out more hints, and Seam abruptly realized that the jester was just guiding him ever closer towards him. Did Jevil seriously just walk in and pick the button up to watch him fumble across the room?

Yes. Of course he did.

“Searing hot.” Jevil’s breath blew on his face. It smelled of the bowl of candy corn he’d eaten at lunch. “Well done.”

Then small, dexterous hands were tilting Seam’s head down. He felt the playful buzz of Jevil’s magic, and then his sight returned. Seam traced a cautious paw over the returned button. Jevil’s magic had sewn it back on flawlessly, painlessly. He blinked rapidly. It was attached better than ever.

Confident in the full restoration of his sight, Seam returned to his desk. Jevil trailed after. Seam picked up the tea cup that he’d knocked off, and mourned the tea that was now steadily soaking into the carpet.

Jevil prodded his side. “What, no thank you for my assistance?”

“Oh, right. Thanks. Here, come claim your reward.”

Jevil grinned, closing his eyes and leaning in for a kiss. Seam picked up the other cup of tea, and spilled it over Jevil’s head.

Jevil squealed and rushed off to clean his hat before a stain set. Seam chuckled quietly to himself, and went to put the kettle back on.

~*~

Their show was a success, of course. Jevil’s enthusiastic bedlam, accompanied by Seam’s finesse, always made for a fine display. Still, Seam was rather pleased with today’s performance in particular, and the birthday boy clapped louder than any of them. Once Lancer had his fill of magics and tricks for the afternoon, Seam and Jevil were free to meander about the party.

Using magic always left Seam peckish, and Jevil, puckish. And so, they split off, Jevil to entertain the nobles, and Seam, to help himself to the buffet. The spread laid out was suitably extravagant, considering the occasion. Seam piled a heap of shrimp onto his plate, along with slices of roasted chicken that were resting in a delicious-smelling pink sauce. He claimed a small table for himself, and sat back to observe the celebration.

Lancer had received his present from his father earlier in the day, and proudly rode his tricycle up and down the ballroom. The four kings were all present, and engaged in what looked to be amicable discussion at the table of honor. And it wasn’t hard to spot Jevil, his pealing laughter easily drawing Seam’s attention. Jevil was entertaining a few members of the court with simple card tricks, his tail bouncing with energy. Seam admired his counterpart’s endless enthusiasm for entertainment, and, not for the first time, wished he could muster up the same level of energy. Jevil was the only one who truly understood and shared in his need to distract the darkners from their gloomy reality; the need to entertain was what drove them, what kept them going.

Seam ate at a leisurely pace. Every now and then someone drifted over to praise the show, which he accepted with a grace won from experience. Seam ultimately meandered back to the buffet table, and helped himself to a cup of punch. He nearly dropped his cup as Jevil appeared right behind him.

“Missing something?”

Seam regarded him. “Are you fishing for a compliment?”

But Jevil didn’t rise to banter back as he usually would. There was a downturn to his lips. Something was off. Jevil reached behind Seam’s ear and produced a coin. He pressed it into Seam’s paw. Seam looked it over; it was double-sided, showing Jevil’s tail on both faces of the coin.

“Two more than you have, and equal to my collection.”

“…What?”

Jevil huffed, rolling his eyes. He raised his tail. It was coiled around Seam’s own severed one.

What? When had it detached? Seam felt around, and yeah, Jevil wasn’t pranking him. He’d lost his tail. Was probably trailing cotton everywhere, too.

“The prince was about to tie it to his bike handle as a streamer.” There was a peculiar edge to Jevil’s tone. His usual playfulness sounded strained. “You need to pay more attention.”

“Thanks.” Seam grasped for his tail, but Jevil’s own tail twitched back, pulling it out of reach. Jevil circled him and reapplied the appendage himself. Then, Jevil gave him a playful swat on the rear.

“Oi! Not here.” Seam hissed, flustered.

Jevil just winked.

~*~

The Knight unnerved him. He slithered forward from the darkness to the kings’ court. Out of his cracked mouth poured promises like tar, heavy and thick. He took the King of Spades behind a closed door and they spoke for hours. Every day, the king spent a little longer with the Knight. Every day, the king’s mood became darker, yet darker.

Jevil was fascinated by the Knight, for he was so different and outlandish, as if not from their world at all. The court jester kept entreating the Knight to speak with him, but the stranger brushed him off in favor of the king’s ear. Seam hoped, for Jevil’s sake, the jester grew bored of his unwilling quarry and moved on. Some conversations were best left unspoken.

“Stop that.”

Seam was jarred from his dour thoughts as Jevil swatted his paw. He’d nearly forgotten Jevil was here with him now, cuddled up on the couch of their shared office in Card Castle. Seam had been picking anxiously at the fraying threads that wove his forearm to his wrist. He’d loosened the threads to the point that his left hand was limp, and two tenuous strands of string away from being disconnected.

Jevil knocked his hand aside, and worked on reattaching the nearly-severed wrist. Glittering strings appeared in one palm, a needle in the other. Jevil deftly threaded the eye of the needle.

“Sorry.” Seam half-shrugged. “Claws, you know?”

The needle slid easily through Seam’s fabric, in and out. Seam never realized before how much easier wrist reattachment was when you didn’t have to do it one-handed.

“Honestly.” Jevil said as he finished up. He pulled the remaining string taut, and cut the fine thread apart with his knifelike teeth. “You’d fall to pieces without me.”

Jevil patted his arm, and Seam obligingly rolled his wrist. His work done, Jevil pressed back into his side, burying his face against Seam’s shoulder.

“Yes, I’d hate to deprive you of your pillow.” Seam remarked, wry.

“Fool.”

They both looked up at the third voice. The Knight loomed in the doorway, his aura sending a chill through Seam’s cotton. The Knight’s hands beckoned Jevil to their clutches.

“I will speak with you, now.”


End file.
